All Quiet On The Western Front Style Analysis

In All Quiet on the Western Front, a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, the main character, Paul, develops a new viewpoint on war as the reader follows the story of his time fighting for Germany during World War I. Remarque keeps a realistic, poetic, and contrastive style in his writing that conveys the scenes Paul sees and experiences in such a way that draws the reader in. Each style has its own significance and is represented at least once throughout the novel. The first style, realistic, is one of the most common styles throughout the book. Remarque goes into great detail in many scenes, helping to describe the feeling and sight of the scenes around Paul. One of the greater examples is when the Second Company is sent to the front-line for

Mentioned previously was an example of the light, thin sound of the violin in comparison of dark, deep sound of the men’s voices as they hummed along to the violin. That is only one example. Another good example of contrast in All Quiet on the Western Front was when Paul is home on release. He had gone to visit some nearby barracks and on his way home, he was lost in thought and did not notice when he passed a Major. “A loud voice called out to [him]” which shattered the peaceful setting of the town and his own thoughts. Paul is ordered to do “‘Twenty paces backward’” as punishment for using his “front line manners” when he is not on the front line even though he was off duty. Paul’s joy of returning home is ruined because of it (Remarque 162-163). The setting before was peaceful and joyful because he once again got to see his mother, and even though he is conflicted about being there, one would imagine that seeing family after a long time would bring anyone joy. The Major’s hollering ruins the peace because it made Paul pretty angry. In addition to the Major ruining the night for Paul, Paul also ends up feeling out of place because of all that he had seen out fighting. His whole time at home helps to show the contrast between what it is like in the military and how the soldiers feel, versus how the other citizens feel about the soldiers in war and how the citizens thought it was like. Remarque does not use contrasting too noticeably in his novel, but he does have quite a few examples hidden